It's that time of year when gardeners are harvesting all their produce before everything dies off in a freeze. We're a long way from a freeze here in Texas and there's not much in my garden to preserve, but I put up a few containers of pesto for the freezer this week.
They'll make nice quick dinners for busy nights this winter. So far I've had some spread on a toasted whole wheat English muffin and mixed with orzo and tomatoes.
There are lots of herb sauces similar to pesto. Chimmichurri is a parsley puree used in Latin cuisines. Pistou is a basil puree without nuts that's often swirled in soups. But don't feel confined to following a traditional recipe.
I've made pesto from spinach, parsley, cilantro, and chives. I bet mint or dill would be good too. And I can't think of many nuts or seeds that wouldn't taste good in pesto. I've used walnuts, cashews, pepitas, sunflower seeds, and almonds before. Sunflower seeds are one of my favorites since they're so cheap.
This pesto is basil, garlic, olive oil, nutritional yeast, cashews, pepitas, and salt.
3 comments:
Such a beautiful green!
I've only made pesto once because I always thought of it having pine nuts. They're kind of pricey so I never tried it again, but I can imagine how any nuts can work. Thanks for pointing that out, especially since I still have lots of basil growing.
My favorite pesto ever is an accidentally vegan one sold by William-Sonoma. It uses walnuts instead of pinenuts. And it's ridiculously expensive.
Post a Comment